The Talbot County Garden Club, a non-profit organization for local gardening enthusiasts, will host its biennial Talbot County Tour on Saturday, May 11, as part of the Maryland House & Garden Pilgrimage. The tour will showcase seven of Talbot County’s historic properties; this year’s selection offers some of the most beautiful homes and gardens in Easton and Trappe. Proceeds from the tour will support the preservation and restoration of two historic churches in Talbot County: Scotts United Methodist Church and St Paul’s Episcopal Church, both located in Trappe.

The Pilgrimage hosts tours throughout Maryland, but according to Garden Club co-chair Kim Eckert, “Talbot County, historically, has had the largest number of visitors, so it’s quite a draw.” The stops on this year’s tour are Canterbury Manor, Ellenborough, and 219 S. Hanson St, in Easton, and Chloras Point Farm, Trappe Landing Farm, Ferry Farm House, and Lloyd’s Landing, in Trappe. The locations offer a wide variety of gorgeous views, pristine gardens, and meticulously-preserved architecture of diverse styles, from the Colonial revival brick mansion of Ellenborough to the pastoral waterfront views of Chlora’s Point Farm. The properties each have unique historical value, spanning over three centuries; the oldest property, Lloyd’s Landing, began construction in 1720.

According to co-chair Zandi Nammack, the tour is an “all-hands-on-deck project, [with] over 250 volunteers. It’s a tremendous community event, and everyone is willing to help, which makes a huge difference.” To pull off the ambitious event, volunteers must perform various roles, so the Garden Club organizes committees oriented to specific tasks, including a property selection committee, an advertising committee, a flower design committee, and several more. Nammack continued, “we divide tasks based on our interests and strengths, so we can get things done well.”

The Talbot County Garden Club’s history began in 1917 with its ten founding members. In 1939, it joined other garden clubs across the state to arrange the first Maryland House & Garden Pilgrimage, which has since taken place every year, with the exceptions of WWII and the COVID-19 Pandemic. The club has taken part in numerous beautification and preservation initiatives, including landscaping the Talbot County Courthouse, planting trees at the Easton Hospital and State Police barracks, restoring the Easton Railway Station, and creating and maintaining the Talbot County Historical Society garden.

Co-chairs Eckert and Nammack emphasized the importance of the tour in supporting local efforts to preserve historic sites. The two sites selected for the Garden Club’s preservation efforts this year, Scotts United and St Paul’s, are both of historical importance to Talbot County. Scotts United, built in the 1700s, was originally a Friends meeting house, and was given as a gift to the local African-American community in the mid-1800s; funds from the tour will go toward water damage prevention at Scotts United. St Paul’s, which has also been active in Trappe for hundreds of years, will receive repairs to its foundation courtesy of Marth Masonry. As Nammack put it, “We are able to provide funds for these historic churches to do things they otherwise couldn’t do, and that’s really important to me.”

Members of the Garden Club are eager to contribute to the county they call their home: as Eckert said, “I fell in love with the county; the grace of the people, and the charm of Easton itself. I really value what we can do as a club, and as a community, to give back.” The Talbot County Tour will take place from 10am to 5pm on Saturday, May 11. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $40 from the Maryland House & Garden Pilgrimage website (mhgp.org), by mail to TCGC, PO Box 1524, Easton, MD 21601 with checks payable to MHGP, or in-person at Bountiful and Garden Treasures in Easton. Tickets can also be purchased day-of at any tour site or at Momma Maria’s in Trappe for $45. An optional $17 box lunch can be ordered from talbotcountygc.org.